DID YOU KNOW?

Last week in the story of Welsh royalty we finished where Henry III had confirmed Llywelyn the Last and his heirs the title of Prince of Wales.  Today we conclude the facts about Wales and next week we will continue with the royals of England and Scotland. 

Edward I succeeded to the English throne in 1272, and was content to wait for internal Welsh disunity to topple Llywelyn.  His policy was sound.  Welsh lords - accustomed by their ancient laws to titular independence - would not maintain the loyalty of feudal vassalage to a Welsh Prince of Wales, and Llywelyn the Last could not frame a centralised administration which would hold the principality together.  There were even Welsh conspiracies to assassinate him.  Llywelyn, losing his touch on statesmanship, allowed himself to be manouvered into a further military struggle against King Edward I.  When Edward moved against him half of Wales supported the English overlord, and by 1277 the so-called Prince of Wales could control only Gwynedd.  Edward then intensified a systematic destruction of Welsh liberties, and provoked a wide revolt in 1282.

By this time Llywelyn could not organise the Welsh even when they were fighting for their existence as a separate people.   He himself was killed by an English scout during s skirmish in the south.  His head was taken for display in Anglesey and later in London.  Wales had lost more than a titular head.  Her independence was gone forever.  Apart from the feudal estates of the Marches - which constitute a part of modern, but not old, Wales - she was annexed to the English crown.  It was in Pembrokeshire, a traditionally crown-dominated region, that Henry Tudor was born in 1457, and landed 28 years later to march up the steps of the English throne.  However, since he had been born and brought up in wales, Henry was passionate in his constant assertion of his Welsh heritage

Please excuse any typing errors....the ring finger of my left hand is having difficulty in keeping up with the other fingers....I put it down to old age and not inaccurate typing.  😋